“There will be school supplies, sweetheart. I promise.”
“Yay! Good. I like school supplies. I like colors and backpacks.”
Rebekka worried too much, and then she shared it with her sisters, making them worry.
But, one way or the other, he was going to have to get these kids school stuff, from clothes to pencils and paper and shit.
It was only another two or three weeks before Mitch was supposed to go back to work at the roofing company.
Cam had to admit he hated the idea of Mitch up on the roof. He was stiff still, and every so often it was as if the man’s feet and his body didn’t know quite how to hook up with each other.
“Sarah says you’re a cowboy.” Rachel’s words shocked him back into stirring the goopy batter.
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I am a cowboy.”
“Cool. I want to be a cowboy and a ballerina. Sarah says I can’t be both, but she’s wrong. I’m going to be both. I’m going to do ballet on top of a horse. Maybe I’ll dance balletwitha horse. That’d be fun, huh? I’d be like a cartoon.”
Lord have mercy.
He was going to have to figure out an appropriate way to answer that, because the last thing he needed was for this little girl to be out there on Fire, trying to do ballet on him, have him trample her to death.
“I know a lot of people who are trick riders. It takes a long time and a lot of practice. You have to start small, just with normal things like riding, and then you build up to it.”
“I like to ride. I mostly ride with Daddy only, though. Bekka doesn’t ride. Sarah can go by herself, though—” She stopped, her eyes went wide, and she covered her mouth with her hand. “I—um. I gotta go potty.”
“Okay, kiddo, well you run along.” He knew she wasn’t supposed to talk about Sarah doing anything by herself, but he was going to let it go. He would talk to Mitch about it later.
He might also talk to Sarah about it when she was out with him in the barn. But right now, he was just going to put this bread in a pan and stick it in the oven.
Mitch came into the kitchen to go to the fridge and grab a Sprite. Cam observed him carefully, making sure he was walking all right. In fact, he did look a lot better than he had when Cam had first shown up, so that was great.
“Hey, you. What smells so good? Sausage?” Mitch gave him a grin, and that smile went right down Cam’s spine into his balls.
He’d been noticing it more and more over the last week—that Mitch was beginning to get his weight back, was beginning to move around, to function, to fix things around the house that were in disarray, and to spend more time with the girls.
He had to admit that was one of the sexiest parts of Mitch. The way he loved those girls and went out of his way to ensure they had what they needed. Maybe not as much money-wise, but time and energy.
Mitch did crafts with Bekka, and he read every single book Sarah read so she could talk to him about it. He watched cartoons and learned about gymnastics and could talk about all sorts of strange and unusual things that Rachel showed even the slightest interest in.
“I’m making sausage bread. It’s supposed to be like sausage balls, but just a bread.”
“Guh.” Mitch closed his eyes and made this amazing noise that sounded like sex. “That sounds like heaven. Have you made it before?”
“No, but I figured why not try? The girls like all the parts of it, right?”
Mitch snorted at him, eyes rolling. “Absolutely, but let’s be honest, the girls are just so happy to have you here cooking. They haven’t turned anything away that I know of.”
Well, Cam wouldn’t tell Mitch about the terrible bean soup incident they’d had one night when Mitch had been poorly and had gone to bed early. That had been a disaster. Not one of those three girls cared for kidney beans in the least.
But he could make up a pinto bean skillet with just pantry food in a second that all three of them inhaled.
He’d fed the kidney beans to Rosie. That had also been something of a mistake, but luckily Rosie was happy to go sleep in the barn if necessary.
“Yeah, they’re pretty happy with food, I guess most kids are, as long as it’s not liver and onions or tons of broccoli.”
Mitch popped the top on the Sprite, and sucked part of it down, his Adam’s apple bobbing. Cam had to admire the length of his throat, although it wasn’t like Mitch could tilt his head back too far. He kind of had to lean his whole body on the counter.
After a little sharp breath, Mitch grinned at him. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed all the frozen broccoli in the freezer, though. You’re not a bull rider. Why are you eating like one?”
